RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Hello all.
I was thinking of making some upgrades to a HL Leopard 2A6. I just wanted to know when would be a good time to change its plastic parts to metal. And, I mean parts like the idler and sprocket wheels, tracks, and road wheels. The tank itself is plastic, but I will be installing metal gearboxes with 390 motors soon.
I see some decent parts on the Taigen website, but if you have any suggestions for alternatives from different manufacturers and sellers, I'm open to them.

Thanks in advance.

We in our club have a rule... drive it till it breaks... then upgrade!

dgsselkirk wrote:We in our club have a rule... drive it till it breaks... then upgrade!

A good rule to have. Simple.

I agree. When I first entered the hobby is buy everything I could find metal for my first Panzer III and Tiger I. Now unless it's a scratch build or unique piece I keep it with the basics until needed. Electronics in the other hand are a totally different story.....

Though the stock t-90 has the newest version from Heng Long. Very nice

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In addition to that good advice, Taigen metal lower hulls are handy for the quick release mechanism and no battery box and/or if the original lower hull shows signs of deforming or cracking under the strain.

Having said that, I don't know if there is one for the Leo.

Estnische wrote:In addition to that good advice, Taigen metal lower hulls are handy for the quick release mechanism and no battery box and/or if the original lower hull shows signs of deforming or cracking under the strain.

Having said that, I don't know if there is one for the Leo.

There is one for the Leo! However, it is completely made out of metal and I reckon it weighs a ton, so the drawback is that you're going to need really beefy motors to keep the power-weight ratio high enough for the model to drive scale!

c.rainford73 wrote:I agree. When I first entered the hobby is buy everything I could find metal for my first Panzer III and Tiger I. Now unless it's a scratch build or unique piece I keep it with the basics until needed. Electronics in the other hand are a totally different story.....

Though the stock t-90 has the newest version from Heng Long. Very nice

Sent from my 2PS64 using Tapatalk

The T-90 is alright. I hated the zinc gearbox and some of the parts that came with it. The airsoft gun is also a pain to deal with.
I actually like the older Leopard 2A6 better than this.

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I agree with the "drive it till it breaks" philosophy, but when it cones to metal there are some things that should be replaced as a group. If you add metal tracks you should go metal for sprocket and idler at the same time. I've always said that the first metal upgrade for any plastic tank should be steel gearboxes.

My take on your question is this - I buy mostly metal tanks and add the odd metal upgrade and new electrics.

Max-U52 wrote:I agree with the "drive it till it breaks" philosophy, but when it cones to metal there are some things that should be replaced as a group. If you add metal tracks you should go metal for sprocket and idler at the same time. I've always said that the first metal upgrade for any plastic tank should be steel gearboxes.

Yup, definitely. You can run plastic tracks on a metal drivetrain, but metal tracks on a plastic drivetrain won't last long!